I wish I could find room for some of the enchantments being mentioned here. I just don't think it's worth while. You lose a lot of the value from playing pyro, gutter, and chimera by not playing a certain number of instants/sor. That surely is a way to go with U/R, but I thin the wrong way if you're looking at the Guttersnipe/Chimera/Pyro creature package. Not to mention you also get two-for-oned frequently (more value lost) with enchantments.
A lot of you don't seem to be having issues in your first few turns which makes me question if some of you have actually been testing against legitimate competition. At this point, I just assume my first two creatures are not staying on the board for more than a turn, because that's what happens in literally 75% of the control matchups I'm playing. Against aggro, if I don't have defense up by turn 3, I start falling behind in life pretty fast and it becomes hard to keep up. I mean control decks are playing 8-11 spot removal which means they almost match your creature threat count.
I just can't believe anyone is legitimately using Nivix Cylcops to any real world use. He just gets removed or chump blocked all day.
I actually haven't tested yet but the Cyclops can go if they don't perform. Right now my creature suite is 4x Pyro, Chimera, and Nivix plus two Guttersnipes. What sort of spells should I be running exactly? I have Augury, Charm, Magma, and Lightning. Can't decide if I want to run some pump spells like Weapon Surge or if I want to run more counters.
I've been testing running 3 Dispel and 3 Spell Rupture in place of 4 Syncopates, 1 Voyage's End and 1 Izzet Charm and I'm kinda digging it. Dispel is great in that as an added bonus if someone shocks Nivmagus Elemental you can use it to give +2/+2 for U instead of just countering it, but I'm still not 100% on it. I'm also trying out 2 Triton Tactics which are just nuts. You'll win pretty much any race with it in hand as you can just untap 2 tokens and make them 1/4s that lock down 2 creatures for a while.
The more I play the deck though I'm wondering if it would be more viable to focus on either Pyro or Gutter as your kill condition and not both and then run more spells to protect and draw/scry into the combo. If going the Pyro route I'd say Dynacharge and/or Weapon Surge would be better than protecting the combo as you only need a few tokens to quickly kill your opponent, where with Gutter you'd need to more reliably get cypher triggers off as soon as you drop him. I've definitely stalled a few games out with an aqueous formed cyphered up Pyro making 4 blockers a turn until I drew into a Guttersnipe, played it, and swung for 10 and the win.
Also, has anyone tried splashing black for Whispering Madness? I've been finding by turn 4-5 I'm almost out of cards and my opponent usually has at least 4 cards they're saving for whatever reason, plus by turn 5 people probably aren't holding lands, so the ability to make someone drop a hand they like for potentially some landsand to give you 3-5 free cards with the option to empty your hand again before attacking with the ciphered copy? Maybe I'm too far into Magic Christmas Fantasy Land at this point though...
@Nafix
I play a heavy burn package so I tend to blow a removal or two early to keep the pressure off, waiting for a skin to protect my YP or snipe, but I am thinking of testing out the weird as 4 toughness is very attractive against aggro. Here's my list for the curious:
Chipher is encoded to a creature and becomes the creatures ability. You copy the spell but you dont cast it. The copy can be countered by regular counter target spell disruption.
On Guttersnipe and Young Pyromaster it says: When you cast a spell......
Therefore the encoded spell does not trigger Snipe or Pyro.
I'd like to pick up another Young Pyromancer and drop a copy of the Weird, but my local shops are tapped out and 3 was the most I could get my hands on.
@Nafix. Good call on the Weird. I was pretty hesitant to drop the Electromancers since they ease the curve on your spells and beef up your X's for free, but the Weird is just plain better against aggro.
I'd like to pick up another Young Pyromancer and drop a copy of the Weird, but my local shops are tapped out and 3 was the most I could get my hands on.
@Nafix. Good call on the Weird. I was pretty hesitant to drop the Electromancers since they ease the curve on your spells and beef up your X's for free, but the Weird is just plain better against aggro.
I like this build. I'm anxious to see how Weird / Electromancer play out between our two decks to decide who is better.
A realization I just had: Epic experiment gets better with scry. Being able to arrange the top 2 cards and casting epic experiment accordingly could mean two free spells at least, guaranteeing that you won't miss, and adjusting how much mana you want to invest to make sure it goes off. Cast 2+B+R and knowing the top 2 will be 2 mana spells seems cool.
Armed//Dangerous + Teleportal is the only reason to run Cyclops. Teleportal is just a low quality replacement for Artful Dodge. If you haven't played with this combo then let me tell you, it is literally untap with Cyclops and win. You do need to protect him. He is not a 3 drop. But the same is true of Guttersnipe. The question is not 'does Cyclops get chump blocked?' it's 'can I put 3 Teleportal 3 Armed//Dangerous and 3 Cyclops and still have enough protection/counters to keep him alive an entire turn'?
This is truly my first deck that I've spent time thinking about and constructing and I'm very very anxious to test it out. I read through this fantastic article by metamorph and gained a lot of insight on building, so that was helpful. I'm very drawn to playing R/U, and I like the control/burn route at instant speed so any suggestions regarding this build would be greatly appreciated.
Trust me, with 4 Steam Augury and 4 Izzet Charm, you're going to want 4 Spellheart Chimeras. Since Steam and the Charm can both easily throw a few instants / sorceries into the graveyard, Spellheart can get crazy strong crazy fast.
I've gotten Spellheart Chimera past 10 strength in a few games of Standard.
I like this build. I'm anxious to see how Weird / Electromancer play out between our two decks to decide who is better.
A realization I just had: Epic experiment gets better with scry. Being able to arrange the top 2 cards and casting epic experiment accordingly could mean two free spells at least, guaranteeing that you won't miss, and adjusting how much mana you want to invest to make sure it goes off. Cast 2+B+R and knowing the top 2 will be 2 mana spells seems cool.
I have an unhealthy love for epic experiment . The deck actually started with 4 and was more or less built around it. The goal here is to cast it for X=4 and snowball into a steam augury . The problem with it is control is going to counter it and against arggo I'd rather have more curse of the swine . On the plus side it fuels spellheart and will probably end the game if you have guttersnipe down. If this card doesn't perform I'll be pulling it for more weapon surge .
I'm surprised curse of the swine isn't getting more love in Izzet. It works well pyromancer token/weapon surge shenanigans, but more importantly, it kills gods.
I haven't done much play testing but I haven't been super impressed with Goblin Electromancer is it just me? I can see the potential but I'm still on the fence :/ I feel like I would almost prefer Chandra's Phoenix over Guttersnipe...you can dump her with Steam Augury and it's a constant threat versus a potential one shot deal. I got the idea to stark tinkering with this deck idea after see Craig Wescoe's list on TCGPlayer which seems like a decent base line to go off of
It's cool to see this build getting some pro attention. I've seen versions of it pop up in various blogs / articles, and it makes me feel happy that I brewed something similar.
So I ran an Izzet Blitz deck around cyclops before and I'm trying to keep it together in theros standard. A couple of things I've found about our card options:
-Cyclops isn't working for me. Chimera and Gsnipe hog up the 3 drop slot, and cyclops eats removal. Also, counters or burn on their turn doesn't help him while it helps young pyro and gsnipe.
-I'm not sure if this deck needs a 1-drop, but what I've been playing around with is Judge's Familar. He helps get in some early damage and makes a good target for hidden strings, wvich is a blowout if they're tapped out and you have gsnipe or pyro.
-I've been running armed and teleportal, but I'm thinking I might trade t cor some burn. Big threats are tough to deal with and against ramp g things get bad.
It's cool to see this build getting some pro attention. I've seen versions of it pop up in various blogs / articles, and it makes me feel happy that I brewed something similar.
woohoo!
The deck really intrigued me I love me some Tempo/Burn/Counter I played his exact main deck last night and it just felt like I ran out of gas so much and wasn't really impressed with Mr. Goblin Electromancer he just felt like a bear pretty much every time. I never felt like I took advantage of him sadly. I was impressed by Steam Augury that card is an actual magic card very sweet and makes for some fun/interesting choices by your opponent.
I'd like to pick up another Young Pyromancer and drop a copy of the Weird, but my local shops are tapped out and 3 was the most I could get my hands on.
@Nafix. Good call on the Weird. I was pretty hesitant to drop the Electromancers since they ease the curve on your spells and beef up your X's for free, but the Weird is just plain better against aggro.
After seeing the weird in mono red over the weekend I like the idea of an izzet deck based around him. I think instead of Epic experiment I'm gonna run two thassas but thanks this definitely the closest build to what I want to play.
I saw some discussion about this in the Grixis thread but... has Psychic Spiral been discussed as a card worth looking at? Maybe 2x. It has bad synergy with the Spellheart Chimera, granted, but it refills your deck with fuel after all the Izzet Charm and Steam Augury digging, and could put a hurt on your opponent milling wise. Maybe a sideboard card against the control MU when so you can play more for the long game.
The deck really intrigued me I love me some Tempo/Burn/Counter I played his exact main deck last night and it just felt like I ran out of gas so much and wasn't really impressed with Mr. Goblin Electromancer he just felt like a bear pretty much every time. I never felt like I took advantage of him sadly. I was impressed by Steam Augury that card is an actual magic card very sweet and makes for some fun/interesting choices by your opponent.
I definitely think he will end up being the weakest card in my build, but I'm anxious to try him. With enough speed / gas in an opening hand, he could really swing the curve for the benefit. But if you end up getting behind, he ends up not doing much.
In any case, I'll probably be sideboarding him out for essence scatters in the aggro matchups.
Steam Augury is absolutely my favorite card from Theros. I don't know how it's not getting more attention...it seems to be flying under the radar at the moment. We will see what the Pro Tour brings (although I highly doubt anyone will legitimately play R/U, but we can dream).
The problem I've found with Goblin Electromancer is that in order for him to be useful you...
-Have to have a red and a blue source turn 2.
-Have to have instants and sorceries in your hand.
-Have to make sure those instants and sorceries can be reduced (Izzet Charm is one of our best cards and Goblin doesn't help it)
-Have to make sure he stays alive.
I'm not a fan.
The problem I've found with Goblin Electromancer is that in order for him to be useful you...
-Have to have a red and a blue source turn 2.
-Have to have instants and sorceries in your hand.
-Have to make sure those instants and sorceries can be reduced (Izzet Charm is one of our best cards and Goblin doesn't help it)
-Have to make sure he stays alive.
I'm not a fan.
Thank god I'm not the only one, I would #allday rather run Frostburn Weird It seems sick in the aggro match up and can buff it's self! Even though I really enjoy Spellheart Chimera I might just end up running x2 as weird as it sounds. It's like a Runechanters Pike esque card I feel like, so x2 feels comfortable for me.
I think I'm going to test this creature suite and see how it feels, this time next week I could pretty much eat crow and say run x4 chimera but we shall see.
I've changed my creature base to 4x Young Pyro, 4x Guttersnipe, 4x Frostburn, and 2x Aetherling. I haven't tested it yet but I took out the Cyclops cause they would just sit there cause I didn't want to dump my hand or they got chumped. He's got potential to go off but I want consistency. I'm curious about how the Aetherlings will play out but like I said I haven't run them yet. With 23 lands it may be tough. Really glad to see the thread picking up.
I've edited my deck list a little. I've mostly been kitchen tabling this, so take it all with a grain of salt. One thing i noticed while playing it out is that a T4 or T5 steam augury almost always nets you a land. This meant my 6th land drop was pretty consistent. I've added opportunity as a two of to recharge my hand. I also went all in on weapon surge and dropped the quickens. My deck list now looks like:
I don't have my play set of CotS yet, so I've been using turn // burn it its place. I think either will probably work here as you want X=2 or 3 on CotS any way so the CMC is about the same. CotS can net you card advantage if you time it right. I'm also toying with the idea of replacing Aetherling with [CARD]
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius[/CARD].
Also, I don't really like Izzet Charm in this deck.
counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays 2; or Izzet Charm deals 2 damage to target creature; or draw two cards, then discard two cards.
If we ignore the first part (for arguments sake, ill get back to this). Izzet Charm deals 2 damage OR filters dead draws for better cards at the cost of a card. Magma Jet does BOTH of these things for the same CMC. I ran the Charm during the last block, but now I would rather run mJet and up the counter count main board. The only down side to this is Izzet Charm can dump fuel for the Chimera into the graveyard, but I would rather set my draws up and play these cards.
In most games I played (prerotation), I would end up subbing the Charm out for either Negate or Essence Scatter. Which brings me back to the first part of the card, if you're side boarding this card after every game 1, you probably need a better card. I would love to hear other view points on this card, and I'm pretty excited to see Izzet getting some attention right now.
I played for the first time tonight and promised an update.
First of all, I had a ton of fun. This deck is absolutely my favorite deck I've ever played because every turn is full of options and interaction. It's definitely thought-heavy, which leaves room for misplays, but that's why it's such a good time.
The Dead Cards Goblin Electromancer was absolutely the worst card in my deck. I knew that going in, but I figured I'd test him out. Not only does he not affect the board state all that much, I almost exclusively preferred to keep countermagic mana up instead of playing him. He only did decent work after turn 5/6, assuming there was no boardstate. At best, he would be bait against a control deck, but even then, it's not worth it. Thoughtflare. If you really look at this card, it's pay 5 mana to draw 2 cards, and it also costs a card. Although it feeds Spellheart Chimera, it was most of the time another dead card. It's been cut. Too slow. I'm considering playing Opportunity in its place, but for now I've added more burn / early game countermagic in place of this sleeper.
The Great Cards Steam Augury. All I have to say is wow. Each time I Augury'd, I was able to force my opponent into choosing the lesser of two evils. And with a Spellheart Chimera in hand or in play, there is no bad Steam Augury. Unless of course you draw 5 land, or 4 and a dead spell, this card does work. I fell more in love with it tonight. Spellheart Chimera Each game I was able to keep him on deck, and he ended up getting to at least six power, presenting a quick clock. Magma Jet This card is absolutely fantastic. Carving out the next two turns is so vital in this build, as it allows flexibility and options.
Also, I don't really like Izzet Charm in this deck.
My response: Izzet Charm is really flexible. Oftentimes I saw myself holding an essence scatter, syncopate or negate up, and my opponent did not cast anything on the turn. Essentially, my interaction was stalled, which also stalled Guttersnipe, Young Pyromancer, and Spellheart Chimera. With Izzet Charm, we can at LEAST assure ourselves that we have something to cast at the end of their turn to make our dudes go off. And sometimes that "pay two extra" clause is relevant believe it or not, especially early game. That's why I'd advocate, and that's why I'm running 4x of both Izzet Charm and Magma Jet.
Obviously I think it's a good idea to run those three creatures exclusively, because they all interact. Goblin Electromancer just did not feed any of the synergy, so I'd rather have more counter / burn to feed the three better creatures. So I cut him in place of four Shock, which gives me a turn 1 answer to little aggro creatures (Rakdos Cackler, Ash Zealot,Experiment One , or a late game win condition when paired with Guttersnipe. In fact, 2 damage is pretty significant against a lot of RDW.
The Meta
I played four different decks and had extremely close games against each match-up.
-The first was a W/U control/aggro build. Fiendslayer Paladin is a pain in the ass against this tempo deck, so I wanted sideboard answers against him. Soldier of the Pantheon also does work against our Spellheart Chimera and ended up winning my opponent the game. Overall it was a decent match-up, but I was left with some dead draws and his Silences won him the game. Cyclonic Rift is huge here, as well as any blue counters.
-The second was against Golgari scavenge. I had this game on lock until Lotleth Troll hit the table. Trample ruins Young Pyromancer's token. Apart from that, it was a close game. Definitely want more burn / blue counter against this deck.
-The third game was against Boros Aggro. Boros Reckoner ended up winning him the games, which is such a pain in the ass against our build. Essence Scatter, Turn / Burn and Cyclonic Rift are really our only answers, seeing as I can't outrace him when anything else is on the board. In the worst case scenario I'll Lightning Strike him early and just take 3 damage. Another close game, but those Reckoners...
-The fourth was against Bant Hexproof, which apparently is still kind of a thing. This was an extremely close match-up, and came down to the last turn each game. Burn here was pretty bad, unless we could burn to the face. But lifelink on an unblockable hexproof monster is pretty difficult to beat. An overloaded Cyclonic Rift and having blue countermagic up early is definitely the only way to beat this. That and Spellheart Chimera.
Anyway, that's a lengthy post, but overall I had a ton of fun with the deck. After the first play-through, I'm going back tomorrow night with a very much improved version. I expect to do much better.
How do you feel about running only eleven creatures? I have fourteen and I'll be honest but Frostburn Weird is wonderful as nafix helped establish. I'm just not sure if I could lose the Weird at the moment. Reckoner is definitely a problem but Turn and Burn have been great for him. I've only tested against Rw burn/aggro with very little wins. The deck runs pretty smoothly but I just can't pull out the wins often. But the deck is very fun. I'll hopefully go to FNM tomorrow and I'll try to put up a decklist. Good luck to my fellow Izzet wizards tomorrow night!
I think I've finally decided that while the hidden strings, hands of binding, nivmagus elemental thing is awesome to see go off and it's enjoyable to see people faces when it happens, it's just not consistent enough to make it off the kitchen table. I'm going to take your guys' advice and try out the Weird in it's place.
I really like the Weapon Surge addition, which led me to another thought...has anyone tried out Goblin Diplomats in the deck? I feel like as maybe a 2-of, the control you get by screwing up combat and potentially forcing your opponent to attack into weapon surged elemental tokens might be worth considering? I'm also starting to think Aetherize might become playable as well with so many aggressive decks? It is 4 mana though and I really like the deck having such a low mana curve. Thoughts?
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I actually haven't tested yet but the Cyclops can go if they don't perform. Right now my creature suite is 4x Pyro, Chimera, and Nivix plus two Guttersnipes. What sort of spells should I be running exactly? I have Augury, Charm, Magma, and Lightning. Can't decide if I want to run some pump spells like Weapon Surge or if I want to run more counters.
The more I play the deck though I'm wondering if it would be more viable to focus on either Pyro or Gutter as your kill condition and not both and then run more spells to protect and draw/scry into the combo. If going the Pyro route I'd say Dynacharge and/or Weapon Surge would be better than protecting the combo as you only need a few tokens to quickly kill your opponent, where with Gutter you'd need to more reliably get cypher triggers off as soon as you drop him. I've definitely stalled a few games out with an aqueous formed cyphered up Pyro making 4 blockers a turn until I drew into a Guttersnipe, played it, and swung for 10 and the win.
Also, has anyone tried splashing black for Whispering Madness? I've been finding by turn 4-5 I'm almost out of cards and my opponent usually has at least 4 cards they're saving for whatever reason, plus by turn 5 people probably aren't holding lands, so the ability to make someone drop a hand they like for potentially some landsand to give you 3-5 free cards with the option to empty your hand again before attacking with the ciphered copy? Maybe I'm too far into Magic Christmas Fantasy Land at this point though...
I play a heavy burn package so I tend to blow a removal or two early to keep the pressure off, waiting for a skin to protect my YP or snipe, but I am thinking of testing out the weird as 4 toughness is very attractive against aggro. Here's my list for the curious:
4x Guttersnipe
2x Spellheart Chimera
4x Shock
2x Lightning Strike
3x Mizzium Mortars
4x Mizzium Skin
3x Weapon Surge
3x Hidden Strings
2x Turn//Burn
3x Inspiration
1x Divination
4x Steam Vents
4x Izzet Guildgate
8x Mountain
6x Island
nope, you may cast the copy.
4x Steam Vents
10x Islands
8x Mountains
Creatures
4x Frostburn Weird
3x Young Pyromancer
4x Guttersnipe
2x Spellheart Chimera
1x Aetherling
3x Dissolve
4x Magma Jet
4x Steam Augury
4x Syncopate
3x Quicken
2x Weapon Surge
Sorcery
2x Epic Experiment
2x Curse of the Swine
2x Curse of the Swine
3x Ratchet Bomb
1x Dissolve
3x Negate
3x Mizzium Mortars
3x Essence Scatter
I'd like to pick up another Young Pyromancer and drop a copy of the Weird, but my local shops are tapped out and 3 was the most I could get my hands on.
@Nafix. Good call on the Weird. I was pretty hesitant to drop the Electromancers since they ease the curve on your spells and beef up your X's for free, but the Weird is just plain better against aggro.
I like this build. I'm anxious to see how Weird / Electromancer play out between our two decks to decide who is better.
A realization I just had: Epic experiment gets better with scry. Being able to arrange the top 2 cards and casting epic experiment accordingly could mean two free spells at least, guaranteeing that you won't miss, and adjusting how much mana you want to invest to make sure it goes off. Cast 2+B+R and knowing the top 2 will be 2 mana spells seems cool.
Trust me, with 4 Steam Augury and 4 Izzet Charm, you're going to want 4 Spellheart Chimeras. Since Steam and the Charm can both easily throw a few instants / sorceries into the graveyard, Spellheart can get crazy strong crazy fast.
I've gotten Spellheart Chimera past 10 strength in a few games of Standard.
I have an unhealthy love for epic experiment . The deck actually started with 4 and was more or less built around it. The goal here is to cast it for X=4 and snowball into a steam augury . The problem with it is control is going to counter it and against arggo I'd rather have more curse of the swine . On the plus side it fuels spellheart and will probably end the game if you have guttersnipe down. If this card doesn't perform I'll be pulling it for more weapon surge .
I'm surprised curse of the swine isn't getting more love in Izzet. It works well pyromancer token/weapon surge shenanigans, but more importantly, it kills gods.
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Spellheart Chimera
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Counterflux
3 Lightning Strike
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Shock
4 Steam Augury
4 Syncopate
4 Turn // Burn
1 Izzet Guildgate
9 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
2 Cancel
2 Dispel
4 Izzet Staticaster
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Ral Zarek
Oh and Dissolve over Cancel he even stated in one of his comments he overlooked that card so it should be in there
woohoo!
-Cyclops isn't working for me. Chimera and Gsnipe hog up the 3 drop slot, and cyclops eats removal. Also, counters or burn on their turn doesn't help him while it helps young pyro and gsnipe.
-I'm not sure if this deck needs a 1-drop, but what I've been playing around with is Judge's Familar. He helps get in some early damage and makes a good target for hidden strings, wvich is a blowout if they're tapped out and you have gsnipe or pyro.
-I've been running armed and teleportal, but I'm thinking I might trade t cor some burn. Big threats are tough to deal with and against ramp g things get bad.
The deck really intrigued me I love me some Tempo/Burn/Counter I played his exact main deck last night and it just felt like I ran out of gas so much and wasn't really impressed with Mr. Goblin Electromancer he just felt like a bear pretty much every time. I never felt like I took advantage of him sadly. I was impressed by Steam Augury that card is an actual magic card very sweet and makes for some fun/interesting choices by your opponent.
After seeing the weird in mono red over the weekend I like the idea of an izzet deck based around him. I think instead of Epic experiment I'm gonna run two thassas but thanks this definitely the closest build to what I want to play.
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Spellheart Chimera
4 Young Pyromancer
2 Essence Scatter
1 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
1 Mizzium Mortars
4 Steam Augury
2 Syncopate
1 Turn // Burn
3 Izzet Guildgate
10 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
I'm quite happy with this at the moment.
Check out my expected lands table at:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Airj6A6lYAz_dG05T2JETnVTak1xQ0tqOHNSdEJLWVE&hl=en_US#gid=0
I definitely think he will end up being the weakest card in my build, but I'm anxious to try him. With enough speed / gas in an opening hand, he could really swing the curve for the benefit. But if you end up getting behind, he ends up not doing much.
In any case, I'll probably be sideboarding him out for essence scatters in the aggro matchups.
Steam Augury is absolutely my favorite card from Theros. I don't know how it's not getting more attention...it seems to be flying under the radar at the moment. We will see what the Pro Tour brings (although I highly doubt anyone will legitimately play R/U, but we can dream).
-Have to have a red and a blue source turn 2.
-Have to have instants and sorceries in your hand.
-Have to make sure those instants and sorceries can be reduced (Izzet Charm is one of our best cards and Goblin doesn't help it)
-Have to make sure he stays alive.
I'm not a fan.
Thank god I'm not the only one, I would #allday rather run Frostburn Weird It seems sick in the aggro match up and can buff it's self! Even though I really enjoy Spellheart Chimera I might just end up running x2 as weird as it sounds. It's like a Runechanters Pike esque card I feel like, so x2 feels comfortable for me.
I think I'm going to test this creature suite and see how it feels, this time next week I could pretty much eat crow and say run x4 chimera but we shall see.
Or just taking both out and running more counter / burn.
Gotta play / test! I'm playing an event tomorrow night so I'll update you guys how it goes.
4x Steam Vents
10x Islands
8x Mountains
Creatures
4x Frostburn Weird
3x Young Pyromancer
4x Guttersnipe
2x Spellheart Chimera
1x Aetherling
3x Dissolve
4x Magma Jet
4x Steam Augury
4x Syncopate
2x Opportunity
4x Weapon Surge
Sorcery
1x Epic Experiment
2x Curse of the Swine
2x Curse of the Swine
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Dissolve
3x Negate
3x Mizzium Mortars
3x Essence Scatter
I don't have my play set of CotS yet, so I've been using turn // burn it its place. I think either will probably work here as you want X=2 or 3 on CotS any way so the CMC is about the same. CotS can net you card advantage if you time it right. I'm also toying with the idea of replacing Aetherling with [CARD]
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius[/CARD].
Also, I don't really like Izzet Charm in this deck.
If we ignore the first part (for arguments sake, ill get back to this). Izzet Charm deals 2 damage OR filters dead draws for better cards at the cost of a card. Magma Jet does BOTH of these things for the same CMC. I ran the Charm during the last block, but now I would rather run mJet and up the counter count main board. The only down side to this is Izzet Charm can dump fuel for the Chimera into the graveyard, but I would rather set my draws up and play these cards.
In most games I played (prerotation), I would end up subbing the Charm out for either Negate or Essence Scatter. Which brings me back to the first part of the card, if you're side boarding this card after every game 1, you probably need a better card. I would love to hear other view points on this card, and I'm pretty excited to see Izzet getting some attention right now.
Lastly, this link should give you a pretty good idea of what you need to beat: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/pr/267
8 Island
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Steam Vents
9 Mountain
Instants
4 Shock
4 Izzet Charm
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Steam Augury
3 Syncopate
3 Dissolve
4 Guttersnipe
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Spellheart Chimera
2 Swan Song
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Turn / Burn
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Essence Scatter
3 Negate
I played for the first time tonight and promised an update.
First of all, I had a ton of fun. This deck is absolutely my favorite deck I've ever played because every turn is full of options and interaction. It's definitely thought-heavy, which leaves room for misplays, but that's why it's such a good time.
The Dead Cards
Goblin Electromancer was absolutely the worst card in my deck. I knew that going in, but I figured I'd test him out. Not only does he not affect the board state all that much, I almost exclusively preferred to keep countermagic mana up instead of playing him. He only did decent work after turn 5/6, assuming there was no boardstate. At best, he would be bait against a control deck, but even then, it's not worth it.
Thoughtflare. If you really look at this card, it's pay 5 mana to draw 2 cards, and it also costs a card. Although it feeds Spellheart Chimera, it was most of the time another dead card. It's been cut. Too slow. I'm considering playing Opportunity in its place, but for now I've added more burn / early game countermagic in place of this sleeper.
The Great Cards
Steam Augury. All I have to say is wow. Each time I Augury'd, I was able to force my opponent into choosing the lesser of two evils. And with a Spellheart Chimera in hand or in play, there is no bad Steam Augury. Unless of course you draw 5 land, or 4 and a dead spell, this card does work. I fell more in love with it tonight.
Spellheart Chimera Each game I was able to keep him on deck, and he ended up getting to at least six power, presenting a quick clock.
Magma Jet This card is absolutely fantastic. Carving out the next two turns is so vital in this build, as it allows flexibility and options.
My response: Izzet Charm is really flexible. Oftentimes I saw myself holding an essence scatter, syncopate or negate up, and my opponent did not cast anything on the turn. Essentially, my interaction was stalled, which also stalled Guttersnipe, Young Pyromancer, and Spellheart Chimera. With Izzet Charm, we can at LEAST assure ourselves that we have something to cast at the end of their turn to make our dudes go off. And sometimes that "pay two extra" clause is relevant believe it or not, especially early game. That's why I'd advocate, and that's why I'm running 4x of both Izzet Charm and Magma Jet.
Obviously I think it's a good idea to run those three creatures exclusively, because they all interact. Goblin Electromancer just did not feed any of the synergy, so I'd rather have more counter / burn to feed the three better creatures. So I cut him in place of four Shock, which gives me a turn 1 answer to little aggro creatures (Rakdos Cackler, Ash Zealot,Experiment One , or a late game win condition when paired with Guttersnipe. In fact, 2 damage is pretty significant against a lot of RDW.
The Meta
I played four different decks and had extremely close games against each match-up.
-The first was a W/U control/aggro build. Fiendslayer Paladin is a pain in the ass against this tempo deck, so I wanted sideboard answers against him. Soldier of the Pantheon also does work against our Spellheart Chimera and ended up winning my opponent the game. Overall it was a decent match-up, but I was left with some dead draws and his Silences won him the game. Cyclonic Rift is huge here, as well as any blue counters.
-The second was against Golgari scavenge. I had this game on lock until Lotleth Troll hit the table. Trample ruins Young Pyromancer's token. Apart from that, it was a close game. Definitely want more burn / blue counter against this deck.
-The third game was against Boros Aggro. Boros Reckoner ended up winning him the games, which is such a pain in the ass against our build. Essence Scatter, Turn / Burn and Cyclonic Rift are really our only answers, seeing as I can't outrace him when anything else is on the board. In the worst case scenario I'll Lightning Strike him early and just take 3 damage. Another close game, but those Reckoners...
-The fourth was against Bant Hexproof, which apparently is still kind of a thing. This was an extremely close match-up, and came down to the last turn each game. Burn here was pretty bad, unless we could burn to the face. But lifelink on an unblockable hexproof monster is pretty difficult to beat. An overloaded Cyclonic Rift and having blue countermagic up early is definitely the only way to beat this. That and Spellheart Chimera.
Anyway, that's a lengthy post, but overall I had a ton of fun with the deck. After the first play-through, I'm going back tomorrow night with a very much improved version. I expect to do much better.
I love this brew!
I really like the Weapon Surge addition, which led me to another thought...has anyone tried out Goblin Diplomats in the deck? I feel like as maybe a 2-of, the control you get by screwing up combat and potentially forcing your opponent to attack into weapon surged elemental tokens might be worth considering? I'm also starting to think Aetherize might become playable as well with so many aggressive decks? It is 4 mana though and I really like the deck having such a low mana curve. Thoughts?